Scribbles in the Dark
by purrpickle
Summary: Short drabbles/stories that all center around Michiru. When I'm feeling particularly emotional, these come out. They are open for interpretation, and subjective to the reader.
1. Chapter 1

AN: First off, you can thank my friends for telling me to post this.

*scratches the back of her head* I really don't know what this is. I guess the only way I can explain it is with a question: You know when you're having a very emotional day (usually bad or frustrating), and you just want to write something to blow off steam, logic and flow be damned? Yeah, I guess this is what this is. And Michiru was the one chosen to be the vessal to write through. I'm not exactly sure why, but I've always had a soft spot for her. There's just so much room in her character to support deep, passionate emotions.

So anyway, these may not make sense. They may be horribly dramatic. The grammar could be so skewed its deliciously bad. Characters and situations probably won't adhere to normal laws. But overall, all that matters, is that they're definately me.

I don't own Sailor Moon nor the characters associated with it.

* * *

Beautiful sad bow strokes filled the room. The music bounced off the walls, each new note overlapping and obscuring the echoes of its elders. Each stroke was flawless even as a rough undertone vibrated beneath. It was the hollow sound of bowstrings scraping across violin strings. As if the violinist hadn't applied enough rosin at the beginning of the song. Or maybe she had. Maybe she had been playing endlessly, tirelessly, possessively for far too long.

Her arm moved fluidly, expertly angling the bow as she wanted, listening to some private music in her head, translating it with each stroke and caress. Her fingers followed along, sometimes taking the lead, pushing and pulling the music where they wanted to go. Her arm would let them, fading into the background, until suddenly rushing up to take the violin back with brutal harsh staccato notes. Her fingers and arm fought against each other with a fearlessness born of having never lost, neither willing to fully submit.

The music, at its core, was a dance. It was a dance of power, of sadness and hopelessness, of anger and regrets. A dance of heartbreak.

Finally, with a crashing crescendo of vicious fury, each note growing wilder and wilder, barely managing to be controlled by her movements, Michiru abruptly ended the agony with a single, ear piercing vibrating wail of bow and violin.

She dropped her instrument from her shoulder. A means to conquer her pain, the violin suddenly seemed a ghost of what it had been, empty of the soul it had possessed. She stared at it, holding both bow and ghost up in her hands. As if she had never seen them before.

She realized she was shaking from the intensity she had chosen to endure. Laying the violin down into its case, she placed the bow on top. They looked dead, limp. With one last glance, she turned and walked away, leaving them alone.


	2. Chapter 2

"Michiru-san." The girl's voice was soft, hesitant. It asked itself if it was okay to talk. A cold hand reached out to touch hers. It felt like everything else. Numb. A million miles away.

The silence pulsed.

A sad indrawn breath ended in another quietly whispered statement. "I'm sorry."

She flinched.

Another indrawn breath, involuntary and hurt. More of a sound than an action. "I am. I know you may not believe me, but…" There was a tremor in the soft voice, the edges crackling, snagging.

She yanked her hand back. She needed heat.

"Michiru!" The name cracked through the air. Cold engulfed her hand again, ice spreading through her cells and veins.

She needed heat. The cold wouldn't leave her.

"Michiru-san, please…"

The cold crawled up to her ears, freezing and painful. Walls of ice formed.

The girl's mouth moved.

Only the cracking and splintering of ice.

The cold suddenly burned on her shoulders, eclipsing the frost it had left before. A strong force made her snap back and forth.

Bright blue blazed into her.

The freezing threatened to thaw. Her limbs started numbing. The cold felt angry, defiant. It gripped her.

The cold grew stronger, throwing her back and forth. Pain quickly numbed.

Falling. Impact.

The source of cold left her. Heat should follow. She needed the heat.

Thawing made her shiver. Snow moved under her body. An iceberg slid under her, pushing her up, pushing her back down. Below the ice. Shaking so violently. Needed heat.

Burst of melting fire smothered her. Licked down her body. Chunks of ice cracked. Fire pushed the cold away.

"…chi…ru..Mi…chi…ru…!" The girl's voice wasn't soft anymore. Panic made it uneven.

It was finally heating up. Awareness crept back.

Bright blue came back, looming and large. "Michiru! Oh, thank God." Warm arms circled her.

"…ch…an?" A winter wind left through her mouth. The fire turned into water. Burning water.

The girl's forehead was hot against her neck. "I am so sorry so sorry so sorry…" Her voice struggled, turning guttural.

Her body hummed with heat, wonderful heat. The girl had brought warmth back to her. Her arms moved, cracking through the thin layer of ice quickly melting.

The embrace and mutterings grew stronger. Not as hurtful. Better.

Michiru looked down through the curtain of water. Usagi looked like a little girl, shaking against her chest. She had brought the cold and the heat. The cold almost took her away. The heat brought her back. She caused pain. Tried to take it away.

Ice left her body. Usagi shook, voice defeated.

Water showered down.

Michiru pulled her closer.


	3. Chapter 3

"I raise ya."

"Really?" She raised her eyebrow.

Haruka spat out the toothpick she had been chewing on. Grinning, the blonde threw three chips onto the pile.

Michiru shook her head. Glancing at the window to her right, she shrugged and dropped three of her own onto the pot.

"Awesome." Slamming her cards down, Haruka leaned forward. Her eyes flashed with anticipation.

Her eyes drifted back to the window, and she frowned. Dark clouds had started to gather on the horizon. Michiru could feel the electricity at the edges of the air molecules.

Haruka slapped her palms on the table again. "Hey! Ya gonna lay 'em down?"

"…Sorry." Not meaning it, the turquoise haired girl turned back. Studying her cards once more, she shrugged and let them softly fall to the table.

"What the- You've GOTTA be kidding me!"

Michiru reached out for the small pile of chips, quietly stacking them with the others in front of her.

Haruka sulked, crossing her arms with the hint of a pout on her face. "Ya must've cheated," she grumbled.

One corner of her mouth twitched in the ghost of a smile, but she didn't respond. Pushing her chair back, she stepped to the window. Grabbing the curtain and pushing it back, she lay her hand on the cool glass, peering out. She felt Haruka's presence behind her before the soft brush of fingertips on her neck.

Cool breath blew across her cheek. "The storm's coming, huh."

Her expression unreadable, Michiru nodded.

"I can't stay long, then." Haruka's gentle lips brushed fleetingly against her ear.

"I know."

The clouds farthest away flashed with lightening. Feeling the thunder in her body, Michiru wrapped her arms around herself. "It's strange," she whispered, not looking up, "I thought I hadn't needed you anymore."

Haruka chuckled lowly, stepping away. "Believe me, I was surprised. Poker?"

Michiru's lips quirked, and she let her head fall forward. She closed her eyes, "I think I had to bet." Another rolling thunder made her hands tense.

The sound of shuffling cards and rattling chips slowly started to fade.

She watched the clouds swiftly approach. Rain began splattering against the window, and Michiru could feel it hit through her palm. Tears slipped down her face.

She lay her forehead into the glass, murmuring into it, "I had to bet that I'd call you back, Haruka."


	4. Chapter 4

AN: [5/21/01] Here you go, guys, an early Michiru word dump. As it really wouldn't fit anywhere else, I figured 'what the heck' and put it here. I do remember what I was feeling when I wrote this (I wrote it sitting in my closet - I swear this is true! In fact, I used to sleep in my closet. XD) and the emotions fit well enough with the guidelines I 'set' for this collection. Anyway, enjoy some more purrpickle classicness. :D

* * *

Not long before Michiru left Usagi, she found that she had become too attached to the younger girl.

Not surprisingly, Usagi found that her own feelings rivaled those of Michiru.

So, one night, when Michiru could not take it anymore, she left and took all of her belongings with her, vowing only to come back when she knew for certain that Usagi was taken.

*

"Mama, the girls and I are going to the mall."

"Okay honey, have fun." Silently, Ikuko watched her older child put on her shoes and exit the house. Only after years of practice could Ikuko see the wistful look Usagi gave the picture on the side table before she opened the door and stepped out.

Walking over to the table, she picked up the photograph and brought it closer to her.

A young Usagi had her arm around another young girl who had shoulder length aqua-sea-green hair tied up in a ponytail. The girl had her face close to Usagi's, her deep cerulean eyes gazing at Usagi in un-faked happiness. Usagi, in turn, had her face turned mostly towards the camera, her tongue stuck impudently out of the corner of her mouth. Her right hand was over the other girl's head in the universal sign of 'bunny ears' and her long blonde hair fell gently down over her shoulder, slightly obscuring her friend who was indignantly pushing it back.

But Usagi's eyes were only for the older girl's. Ikuko, even by just looking at the picture, could tell the bond the two girls shared.

"Michiru, Usagi misses you so much; why did you leave?"

With one more glance at the photograph, she reset it back onto the table and tilted it so Usagi could easily see it on her way out the door.

As if addressing the lone picture of Michiru, and not Usagi, Ikuko frowned sadly and shook her head, "I see her writing you letters every day, Michiru. Of course, she can't send them, and always crumples them up. She misses you greatly, and I can't stand how she holds herself now. So uncertain… So afraid that one small mistake will make the whole world collapse all around her.

"Michiru, it was like you were my daughter's reliability; you held her up.

"She loved you… And I believe you returned those feelings…

"Michiru, if you can hear me, please come back. Usagi needs you.

"I'm afraid she's getting clumsier and seems so much more uncertain of herself lately."

Blinking back tears she was surprised to have, Ikuko once more fixed the photograph and then trailed her fingers down the cheek of her daughter's smiling face.

"So happy…"

Depressed by her thoughts, Ikuko walked to the kitchen and started making dinner.

The image of her smiling daughter flashed before her eyes, and she murmured, just low enough to get lost behind the grinding of the blender, "She was so happy then…"

*

Smiling at the joke one of the other girl's said, she sighed and idly tapped her ear. It was ringing again.

Shifting her bag to her other hand, she blinked, then blinked again. Slowing down, she accidentally jostled into one of the others.

"Jeez, Usagi-chan, watch where you're going!" a black haired teen said, humphing when she ran into Usagi's elbow.

Closing her eyes tightly till they watered, Usagi shook her head and opened her eyes warily, only to shut them again. Fully stopping, she raised a hand to her forehead as a pounding headache played tag with her heartbeat.

Lifting her eyelids manually, a trembling frown forced its way across her face and she dropped to her knees. Clenching her hands into fists, she dug her nails into her palms and took deep shuddering breaths.

"Usagi! What's wrong? What's happening??"

*

"But Michiru, what's wrong with my cologne?"

"It's too overpowering. Here, I think this one is better."

Grabbing a bottle off of the shelf, she handed it to the seemingly male next to her. Suddenly the bottle dropped from her hand with a gasp, and the young teen snapped her head violently towards the center of the store.

"Usagi! Usagi-chan! What's wrong? What's happening??"

Forcing herself to walk over there, her face white an body trembling, Michiru could not help but gasp at the scene in front of her.

Her heart beating in her chest a thousand times faster than normal, it suddenly stopped as soon as Michiru's eyes alit on the sole person she was avoiding. Gulping in air at an alarming rate, she reached a hand out, trembling violently as tears crawled down the sides of her face, harsh sobs erupting from her mouth. She collapsed to the ground, her heart beat thundering in her ears, effectively drowning out her companion's frenzied question.

She started forward.

*

Usagi knew the second she heard the startled gasp that resonated through her whole body over the frantic question of her friends that she was there.

Slowly turning her face towards the area she was in, Usagi trembled violently and shrugged off the curious hands of her friends.

Blindly reaching out a hand, she crawled forwards, barely breathing, her heart beating in her chest so loud, she was surprised it wasn't bursting out.

Her hand brushed lightly against something warm, calming; Usagi gasped as a delightful shiver sparked through her body and she surged forward, tears flowing down her face as she clutched fabric desperately in her fists, burying her head in silky hair.

Feeling trembling against her body, Usagi clutched tighter, almost gasping as she felt hesitant arms wrap around her back.

Whispering raggedly, blocking everything else out, Usagi sobbed.

"You're back… Oh god, you're back… You're back… You're here… You're here…"

Opening her eyes, she watched as the black film rolled away and cerulean eyes pierced into her, tears piling up and falling from those eyes.

"Yes… I'm here," Michiru slowly nodded and craned her head forward, lightly kissing some tears away from Usagi's face with lips that trembled.

She bolted.


End file.
